sluggyfandomcom-20200214-history
Torg
A hapless freelance web designer and an incorrigible punster, Torg is the protagonist in most storylines, having appeared in more than half of the site's comics at last count. He's impulsive and not so bright, and yet he sometimes comes up with surprising but clever solutions to problems. Torg is the prototypical all-around good guy, who is well-liked by everyone who isn't evil. Biography Torg says he has some Viking heritage, which may explain his name. His family has never been introduced in the comic, but it was revealed that his parents died when he was a child. Torg grew up with his best friend and current roommate Riff. As a child, he displayed the same flair for good-natured mischief that he continues to have in his adult life. He went to college for graphic design Sluggy Freelance: 6/25/2010 and after college became a freelance web designer. Torg was a freelance web designer for many years before his business went bankrupt. Since then he has had little success with jobs, having a severe problem with a regimented work schedule or the very concept of having to be up before 9 AM . He started working for Adversion Advertisement in May 2005, but was fired in January 2007 for constant absences from work. Since then, he has worked as the strategist for Minion Master,Sluggy Freelance: 6/17/2010 and later as the leader in the ongoing fight to destroy Hereti-Corp. Because Torg has been a character in almost every story in Sluggy, the easiest way to understand his story is just to read the Sluggy archives from beginning to end. Included here is only a list of some of the more important stories for him personally. Torg's middle name has been revealed to be "Sluggy," connecting him both to the Bun-bun lookalike God of Power in Mohkadun and the code name given to Riff by Hereti-Corp. Torg's first appearance is in the very first strip http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=970830&mode=weekly. Soon he buys Bun-bun, which starts a long relationship of antagonism and good times (Along Came a Bunny). Early on, Torg was transported by the DFA into the Dimension of Science Fiction Cliches, where he met Aylee. He eventually hired her as a secretary, and the two became friends. Not long after, the DFA sent him to the Dimension of Pain, but he escaped to the Dimension of Lame and was eventually sent back to his own dimension by the DoL's alternate Bun-bun. Back in our world, Torg had started slowly getting closer to Valerie, Sam's wife. Eventually he fell in love with her. It soon became apparent that she was a vampire who loved him only for his close resemblance to her deceased husband from several hundred years ago, and that she wanted to turn him into a vampire. Eventually Torg had to stake her in order to save his friends. Torg and Valerie met again when Torg and Zoë traveled back in time to stop K'Z'K. He failed to save her however, and she still became a vampire. Then he went camping with Bun-bun and Kiki and they run into Oasis who falls in love with him but then explodes (see The Isle of Doctor Steve (Chapter)). Torg travels quite a bit, visiting various dimensions, not only the Dimension of Pain and the Dimension of science fiction cliches, but also the Dimension of Lame, the Punyverse, the Ghoul Dimension (a universe where earth has been taken over by zombies (see Aylee (chapter)), as well as Hell, Wispydale (twice, see K I T T E N), Malaysia, and Poland. Personality Torg is marked by his amiable personality and his unwavering loyalty to his friends, which sometimes causes him to act in selfless (and sometimes reckless) ways. He has taken on an increasingly heroic and deep personality as several of his adventures have taken him far away from friends for long periods of time in ever more lethal situations. He was emotionally shattered after spending much of 2004 in the middle of a demonic invasion of a parallel universe, where he lost alt-Zoe. His most normal and natural behavior, however, is of a bumbling and cheerful geek that usually (though unintentionally) cause all sorts of confusion around himself, a habit that often upsets his friends (particularly Zoë). However, they all acknowledge that Torg is good-hearted and never means harm, and they tend to forgive him after a short time. Despite his numerous signs of stupidity, Torg has proven to be cunning and creative when needed. Sasha once even pointed out that Torg is much more clever than his immature antics lead others to believe, borderline to downright genius level of intelligence . As the stories progress, this difference in Torg's personality becomes increasingly paradoxical to those around him. On one hand, he often assumes the role of leader and strategist, as in the Minions are Forever storyline Sluggy Freelance: 6/17/2010 and in the on-going fight against Hereti-Corp Sluggy Freelance: 9/25/2015 and yet, at the same time, retains the bumbling seeming-stupidity, which bewilders those on his teamSluggy Freelance: 2/17/2017. Despite his good nature, Torg can be quite vicious if angered. For example, in the bRoken storyline, after Torg was presented with evidence that seemed to point to Zoë's death, he apparently covered up the memory. When a psychologist forced him to face the memory, Torg snapped and attacked the man. He later repressed the memory again. Also, in Safehouse, after Torg's garden was eaten by woodland animals, he become outraged and started to daydream about making the animals suffer in Saw stile, much to Zoe's disgust . As Torg has become seriously determined to bring down Hereti-Corp, he has displayed a darker aspect of his personality that upsets Zöe . Torg has become aware of this, however, recognizing the darkness in his actions Sluggy Freelance: 3/28/2017, yet thinking he has no other options if he wants to bring Hereti-Corp down. Sluggy Freelance: 6/30/2017 For much of the strip, Torg had problems with steady or stable relationships, as most of the women with any romantic designs on Torg have generally found themselves dead, emotionally traumatized, or generally not very well-off. For example, when Torg gave Zoë a necklace found in a lost Egyptian pyramid, it turned out to be cursed and turned her into a camel. This pattern of girlfriend-destruction itself can even be seen as self-perpetuating, since one of the reasons Torg had not actively pursued a relationship with Zoë (or broken it off when it got too intimate) is that he feared that if he let her become close she too would fall victim to one of the many weird dangers that Torg constantly finds himself surrounded by. This fear was increased after Alt-Zoë was killed in front of him in 2004, but after confronting this fear in the shadow world during the Wayang Kulit adventure, he has moved past it. He spent time tracking down Oasis and sort things out to remove any danger to Zoë. Zoë and Torg are now together, but he continues to try to keep Zoë out of the front lines. Attack Modifiers Unarmed, Torg is not generally considered a dangerous person, although his fighting ability has greatly improved since his second stay in the Dimension of Lame. (Bun-bun: "Who upgraded Nerd-Boy?" ). Another example of how skilled Torg is in hand-to-hand combat was when he effortlessly sliced several zombies in the dark within seconds (which prompted Riff to ask: "Dude! When did you learn to kick ass?" ). He has shown some ability to handle laser guns and assault rifles. His current preferred weaponry is an enchanted sword named Chaz, with which he was capable of slaying many demons during the That Which Redeems storyline. Fashion Sense Astute readers will note that Torg's trademark eternally plaid shirt is always filled with a series of neat vertical and horizontal stripes. Pete Abrams, who has demonstrated increasing artistic acumen over the years, appears to deliberately ignore all rules of perspective when drawing the shirt, so that overlapping folds of fabric or bending of the arms have no impact on its stripes. Crossover artists often imitate this design trait when drawing him. Following the "That Which Redeems" storyline, Torg has taken to wearing a slightly wider repertoire of shirts. During the Wayang Kulit storyline, the plaid shirt appears to be associated with 'old Torg' or 'happy Torg', while the solid red shirt is associated with his increasingly heroic role in adventures (it is sometimes referred to as the "hero shirt" by fans). The white t-shirt, on the other hand, is associated with cowardice - Torg attempting to put on a face to hide from the problems which have begun to take a heavy toll on his psyche. The shirt and tie-Torg's "work clothes"-in this storyline seem to represent an attempt to escape his problems as well, or to deal with his problems by violence rather than coming to terms with them. Since then, Torg has tended to wear clothes that suit his current role, from the minion uniforms in the Minions are Forever storyline Sluggy Freelance: 6/17/2010 or the black numbered uniforms of the Black Ops Elves and later the rest of his team in the ongoing fight against Hereti-Corp. Sluggy Freelance: 9/8/2015 Relationships (should I draw you a flowchart?) Riff is Torg's best friend and roommate. Zoe is the girl Torg is secretly in love with. Gwynn is Torg's friend, whom he regards as an older sister (a hot one, when not wearing her glasses). Bun-bun is ostensibly Torg's pet bunny, but we know who wears the emergency pants in that relationship. Aylee is Torg's alien friend, who seems to have moved past her initial attempts to eat him. Kiki is Riff's pet ferret, with whom Torg shares a certain amount of innocent ignorance about the world. Oasis is an assassin who thinks she's in love with Torg. Also Known As Torg has a number of pseudonyms in addition to being the victim of mistaken identity on occasion. As is common for major Sluggy characters, readers are never told Torg's real last name. Names he has used include: Pheasant, the Peasant Lord Torgamous LeTurg, Turg LeTurgturg, etc. Torg Potter, the Lastnameless One (a mistaken identity) Alternates Torg's known counterparts in other dimensions include: *Torg (Dimension of Lame) *Torg (Ghoul Dimension) *Torg (4U City Dimension) *Torg (Weird Portuguese-Speaking Dimension) *"Alt-alt-Torg" *Torgggr *Tentacle-Torg Comic History Torg first appeared on August 25 1997 . References category:characters